The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors purchased 8,958 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 57% compared to the average daily volume of 5,718 call options.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AES shares. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $20.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised AES to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.57.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on AES
AES Stock Down 9.7 %
Shares of NYSE:AES traded down $1.59 during trading on Friday, reaching $14.71. 30,815,695 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,289,021. AES has a 1-year low of $14.68 and a 1-year high of $22.21. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $17.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $10.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.22 and a beta of 1.07.
AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. AES had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business's revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that AES will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
AES Dividend Announcement
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be paid a $0.1725 dividend. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 1st. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.92%.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On AES
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in AES by 161.8% during the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 107,016 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,035,000 after acquiring an additional 66,145 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in AES by 1.9% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 124,745 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,237,000 after acquiring an additional 2,273 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in AES by 735.2% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 617,387 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $11,070,000 after acquiring an additional 543,464 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of AES by 20.1% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 839,343 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $15,049,000 after purchasing an additional 140,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AES by 178.5% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 689,879 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $12,369,000 after purchasing an additional 442,184 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
About AES
(
Get Free Report)
The AES Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified power generation and utility company in the United States and internationally. The company owns and/or operates power plants to generate and sell power to customers, such as utilities, industrial users, and other intermediaries; owns and/or operates utilities to generate or purchase, distribute, transmit, and sell electricity to end-user customers in the residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental sectors; and generates and sells electricity on the wholesale market.
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